Has Johnny Walker Reached his Ceiling?

[Pancake Sprawl]

The problem I spose is more his recent style losing finishing ability.

I think he has a similar problem to Arlovski(albeit he's not on his level overall) were his aggression can make him vulnerable but without it he loses a lot of his effectiveness.

This fight you did kind of get the sense he was going to get caught in the end but whilst it lasted longer he wasnt really throwing anything to potentially finish Ankalaev.

what's funny was he was doing pretty good in rd 1 when he forced Ankalaev to block that spinning heel kick and marched forward on him. he was taking up a lot of space, forcing Ankalaev on the defensive and to retreat, but he just did nothing after that and allowed Ankalaev to take back the space. it's been done to death, but it's Irish Edmond. he was better when he wasn't in Ireland. he had more holes, but his offense was overwhelming if you didn't prepare for it. his combination of athleticism and size could/would blow a lot of guys away early if he kept with his old style.

 

[Dr. Rose]

He (as well as the older version of Glover and Shogun) is one of those fighters who would have benefited from a cruiserweight division. Also Rampage after he became Fatpage.

 

[Neck&Neck]

He just needs a new camp and a fresh haircut

 

[BjPenn2017]

what's funny was he was doing pretty good in rd 1 when he forced Ankalaev to block that spinning heel kick and marched forward on him. he was taking up a lot of space, forcing Ankalaev on the defensive and to retreat, but he just did nothing after that and allowed Ankalaev to take back the space. it's been done to death, but it's Irish Edmond. he was better when he wasn't in Ireland. he had more holes, but his offense was overwhelming if you didn't prepare for it. his combination of athleticism and size could/would blow a lot of guys away early if he kept with his old style.

To be fair he wasn’t facing this level of competition and he went on a decent streak under Irish Edmond. I don’t think Kav was the problem here, he’s fighting big boys and has no chin. He got knocked out 3 times in like 10 seconds in that one video it was brutal, your brain will never recover from shit like that.

 

[Guy LeDouche]

We’ve seen that ceiling with him before.
I think his unpredictability and power gives him the opportunity to break it against better fighters occasionally. But his style of fighting and his chin will always be an issue

 

[StonedLemur]

It seems like his most memorable fights are the ones where he's getting KTFO.

I was suprised looking at his record to see he hadn't been finished more times than he did because everytime he fights It always feels like he's 2 seconds away from getting knocked out.

Once hyped as the guy to beat Jon Jones and still only 31 years old. Where do you see this guy headed in the next few years?

He cuts a lot and that affects his ability to take a shot.
He's about as athletic as you can be but he's not fundamentally sound enough.

He lacks an effective jab, he doesn't throw combinations for the most part.
He's an incomplete fighter.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

To be fair he wasn’t facing this level of competition and he went on a decent streak under Irish Edmond. I don’t think Kav was the problem here, he’s fighting big boys and has no chin. He got knocked out 3 times in like 10 seconds in that one video it was brutal, your brain will never recover from shit like that.

see, to me he could've went on that win streak without Irish Edmund. i don't think Kav is the problem as in he's getting worse, it's that to me, he's not getting better. he still has no defense besides occasionally moving his head when he expects something to come back, but almost all of his recent stoppage losses, even the one to Ankalaev have come because he tries to get into an exchange with his hands.

they revamped his style to be more patient but like the other poster said i think that's problematic when you don't have defense. like they could've changed his style to be more patient, even without a solid defense, if they just focused on exploiting his reach/size. or changed it to where his defense to being in the pocket is to automatically thai clinch and strike. those 2 things have already proven to work if they just made them more consistent parts of his game.

right now, they've got him trying to be like the old FW Conor and it's just not his style to pressure with kicks and look to counter with a punch.

 

[Megatronlee]

Top 6 kinda guy

 

[Masturbin]

He's a 50/50 fighter at best.

People forget his fight with Kyrlov both guys léooked like gay white belts rolling arround gassed.

Johnny even got into full mount by acccident.

The guy also changes gym depending on the pussy flavor of the month he enjoys.

Brasil,Canada, Ireland.

What's next?

 

[HatKick]

You can't be elite if you can't take a shot.
Actually there are a few cases like Whittaker who makes up for it to some degree with great defense. But I'm convinced he would have beaten Dricus and maybe Adesanya in the rematch if he could take a shot. He could be the champ right now. You gotta be able to take a few.
Walker has terrible fundamentals as well. He basically checkmated himself and presented his chin to Ankalaev. He's worked on his defense the last couple of years but the fundamentals just aren't there.

 

[Dim1]

Might as well go to HW, juice up and start working on the old jaw muscles.

View attachment 1023599

Spoiler

Can anyone shoop this before after?

Before KTFO JW face or shadface

After ... maybe Easter Island head or Mark Hunt eating a CC headkick, or Jones eating a headkick
View attachment 1023600

That and some neck exercises could work for him. Do that and stay light heavy.

 

[Dim1]

He may have but the only two fights that really bother me are that one and the Jamal Hill fight. For someone of his length he also doesn't really use distance control as well as he could. He needs to take a lesson in "Jon Jones Fu"

 

[jeff7b9]

He's about as athletic as you can be but he's not fundamentally sound enough.

He lacks an effective jab, he doesn't throw combinations for the most part.
He's an incomplete fighter.

I have never seen a fighter telegraph a strike as badly as Johnny Walker was telegraphing the spinning backfist last night.

I don't know how where he got the idea to spam wild and brutally ovbious spinning backfists instead of jabs, but I have my doubts as to the effectiveness of that particular strategy.

 

[BigMuffler]

He (as well as the older version of Glover and Shogun) is one of those fighters who would have benefited from a cruiserweight division. Also Rampage after he became Fatpage.

Shogun? He wasn't a big LHW...

 

[DrRodentia]

He just doesn't have the chin to hang in the heavy weightclasses. There isn't a fight I would comfortably pick him in knowing how fragile he is.

 

[josh345]

MMA fandom is brutal. Everyone was rooting for Johnny to win and now everyone is trolling the way he looks when he gets KOd. lol

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

He cuts a lot and that affects his ability to take a shot.
He's about as athletic as you can be but he's not fundamentally sound enough.

He lacks an effective jab, he doesn't throw combinations for the most part.
He's an incomplete fighter.

He's 90% nature and 10% nurture. I like Johnny and he seems like a really positive dude. I'd be down to see him at HW, there's enough fat guys he can kick around up there until he gets blasted by the top 10. I could see him sitting around #15 HW easily, but he can get KTFO in basically any fight. His issue is not having a camp that trains him with discipline. I don't know how he ended up at Kavanaughs.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

He's still young and can improve but the biggest thing holding him back is his chin. As soon as anything heavy touches his chin he's done.

 

[duke_droese]

Post-usada, he needs to go to heavyweight and become Uberwalker

Also join a proper gym like Extreme Couture, ATT or Renegade if he wants to stay in the UK/Ireland.

Irish Edmund has been no help to him.

 

[blaseblase]

Unless he’s pressing forward and putting it on his opponent he’s toast. If he’s tempered and cautious he gets decisioned in a snoozefest, or more commonly recently, they have enough time to find an opening and clip him. I’d like to see him try heavyweight, as the weight cut hinders his chin.

That gif of him getting KO'd 3 times in one fight was at heavyweight